Villanova Digital Library

Villanova University's Digital Library initiative assembles, presents, and preserves digital collections that support the teaching and research of the campus and the global community of scholars. We work with faculty, staff and regional partners to select and develop resources that enhance access for a wide range of disciplines and audiences.

This diverse collection brings together rare works published in America and collections of documents and personal papers from Americans, and about America. Note this collection specifically excludes those works published in Pennsylvania and from Pennsylvanians; these works are included in the Pennsylvaniana collection. Digitization Status: Ongoing.

This collection makes available digital content of Catholic materials including books, journals, papers, and manuscripts dealing with the Roman Catholic Church in general, and in particular works created or published in the Americas. Much of the digitalized content will come from physical works made available from our Digital Partners. Digitization Status: Ongoing.

This collection includes works by members of the Augustinian Order, as well as resources by and about Saint Augustine of Hippo. For other works please see the Catholica Collection, the Manuscript Collection; for works by and about Gregor Mendel please see the Flora, Fauna, and the Human Form Collection. Digitization Status: Ongoing.

An almost complete collection of limited editions of books and broadsides printed by the Cuala Press (formerly the Dun Emer Press). This Irish press published many important writers from the early twentieth century. Digitization Status: Completed.

This collection brings together pre-Pulp era tales initially depicting scenes early America, the Frontier, and the West. Ranging roughly from 1860 to 1930 these often serial publications record the attitudes prevailing of 19th and early 20th Century society: including racist, sexist, and ethnic stereotypes. The original works are often highly fragile and digitization is a slow and careful endeavor. This collection includes the precursors to "Dime Novels", known as the "Story Papers", which were often of larger format, as well as the United Kingdom versions, "Penny Dreadfuls". Also included in this collection are Mass Market Literature - containing non-fiction texts, some of which are manifested as textual series - in a variety of subjects - including "self-help" and "how-to" titles, and medical cures. Also included are international Dime Novels - both translations of English originals as well as native creations. Digitization status: ongoing.

Included here are biological and natural history studies depicting plant and animal forms, including works on herbs, insects, human physiognomy, genetics, and eugenics. This collection also includes works by and about Gregor Mendel. Digitiation Status: Ongoing.

Founded in 1764, The German Society of Pennsylvania is America’s oldest German organization. Its Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library, housed in a beautiful 19th century reading room, holds one of the largest private collections of German-language books in the U.S. The German American Collection contains a wealth of material documenting all aspects of German American life, beginning with the first settlers in Germantown in 1683. In addition to books, the library houses sizable collections of 19th century Philadelphia German newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, and manuscripts. The online catalog can be viewed at: gsp.library.net For more information, please visit: www.germansociety.org For finding aids to these collections, click here.

This collection brings together materials owned by the Independence Seaport Museum. Included are items that feature nautical related themes and the Barry-Hayes Papers with content from Commodore John Barry.

This collection contains materials published in Pennsylvania dealing with Pennsylvania history, biography of notable Pennsylvanians, Pennsylvania organizations and geography; and personal paper sub-collections including correspondence and ephemera of Pennsylvanians involved in the development of shorthand, in the American Civil War, and in Philadelphia's Main Line history. This collection also includes health statistics related to Pennsylvanians. Digitization Status: Ongoing.

The Ceili Group is devoted to the promotion and perpetuation of Irish music, dance and culture in Philadelphia and throughout the Greater Delaware Valley. If you'd like to learn about upcoming local Irish music and cultural events, with a special emphasis on the many wonderful music and dance presentations sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group, then this is the place to find it. Villanova University's Digital Library archives the music of the Group's past festivals and makes Irish song and dance freely available to the community in inline audio and video and downloadable formats.

As a dimension of the Augustinian dimension of the mission of Villanova University, the Saint Augustine Reference Library is a resource for the current scholarship on Saint Augustine, one of the most important figures of Late Antiquity and of the Christian tradition. Currently featuring the work Augustine through the Ages: an Encyclopedia, this library will be amplified with guides for the study of Augustine (methodology, bibliographical orientation and thematic aspects). An already-existing and expanding bibliography for the study of St. Augustine can be found at http://www.findingaugustine.org.

Access to some materials is currently limited to the Villanova University Community.

This correspondence contains many letters from Eleanor to her father, General William Tecumseh Sherman, frequently refering to public events and personalities. Another feature of the correspondence that calls for special attention is the local color and references to many individuals, events, and institutions of Philadelphia and the Main Line in the 1880's and 1890's. A unique part of the collection is A. M. Thackara's correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia relating to his years at Annapolis up until his marriage. Here can be found an unusual first-hand picture of Navy life in the post-Civil War period. Click here for a Guide and Finding Aid to this collection.